Just after midnight on Oct. 17, President Obama signed legislation that avoided a dangerous default and reopened the government after the third-longest government shutdown in history. Under the terms of the deal, the government was funded through Jan. 15, 2014, and the debt limit was extended until Feb. 7, 2014.

America's fighter and attack aircraft fleet is aging. Unfortunately, the only real program in place to address this issue – the F-35 "Lightning II" Joint Strike Fighter – is producing overpriced aircraft with fundamental design problems that will make them inferior weapons. The program should be cancelled. America's current fighter and attack jets should be refurbished, and the military should start new programs that are not excessively expensive. This would provide better national security and free up funds for vital domestic programs.

Potentially central to any fiscal deal later this year are savings in the government's popular Medicare program that currently helps about 52 million Americans obtain health care. However, the way those savings are achieved will have vastly different consequences for older Americans.

A key fund for government transparency programs is once again facing cuts. On July 10, the House Financial Services and General Government appropriations subcommittee approved a bill that provides no funding for the Electronic Government Fund (E-Gov Fund), the driving force behind many recent open government innovations. Instead, the bill merges the E-Gov Fund with another fund and cuts their combined funding level 15 percent from last year.